DuPage forest preserve gets 24-acre land donation

Salt Creek Marsh near Itasca will grow by more than 24 acres because a landowner has agreed to donate the property to the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.

Forest preserve commissioners on Tuesday authorized the acquisition of the 24.17 acres from Donna K. Bass of Lake Forest. Bass is donating the property - located south of Thorndale Avenue between Wood Dale Road and Prospect Avenue - as long as the district pays roughly $27,000 in costs related to the transaction.

Executive Director Michael Hullihan said the district was negotiating to buy the property when the owner decided to donate it instead.

Since the site is mostly wetlands, the owner couldn't build on it.

Officials said the property has a great deal of value for the district because it's next to Salt Creek Marsh and has a quarter-mile of Salt Creek running through it. The land is immediately north of the Wood Dale-Itasca Reservoir.

"The land has ended up with the organization that can take care of it for the good of everybody," Hullihan said.

Forest preserve President Joseph Cantore said the district appreciates the gift.

"It's a shining example of people wanting to help the forest preserve in myriad ways," Cantore said.

The forest preserve's website describes Salt Creek Marsh as "an undeveloped, natural area comprised of ponds, wetlands and floodplain forest" along Salt Creek.

The preserve covers 114 acres and hosts wetland birds, including great egret, spotted sandpiper and great blue heron, officials said. There also are retention basins and marshes that help provide stormwater control.

After the additional land becomes part of the preserve, district staff members will remove nonnative plants, including buckthorn and phragmites. "We have to go in and make sure the right things are growing there," Hullihan said.